Streetwise

Race, Class, and Change in an Urban Community

In a powerful, revealing portrait of city life, Anderson explores the dilemma of both blacks and whites, the underclass and the middle class, caught up in the new struggle not only for common ground—prime real estate in a racially changing neighborhood—but for shared moral community. Blacks and whites from a variety of backgrounds speak candidly about their lives, their differences, and their battle for viable communities.

“The sharpness of his observations and the simple clarity of his prose recommend his book far beyond an academic audience. Vivid, unflinching, finely observed, Streetwise is a powerful and intensely frightening picture of the inner city.”—Tamar Jacoby, New York Times Book Review

“The book is without peer in the urban sociology literature. . . . A first-rate piece of social science, and a very good read.”—Glenn C. Loury, Washington Times

Preface
Introduction
1. The Village Setting
2. The Northton Community
3. The Impact of Drugs
4. Sex Codes and Family Life among Northton’s Youth
5. In the Shadow of the Ghetto
6. The Black Male in Public
7. The Police and the Black Male
8. Street Etiquette and Street Wisdom
Conclusion
Appendix: Characteristics of the Village-Northton Area
References
Index